Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Australia is intentionally ignoring appalling human rights abuses against men, women and children being held in detention on Nauru, a new report from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International says.

The report said Australia's offshore detention policy had resulted in the abuse of refugees and asylum seekers, which had been hidden behind a wall of secrecy.

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The researchers' report, based on interviews with 84 refugees and asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Bangladesh, Kuwait and Afghanistan, as well as service providers at the Australian-funded facility, said that Canberra could not conceivably be unaware of the detention centre's shortcomings.

"The Australian government's failure to address serious abuses appears to be a deliberate policy to deter further asylum seekers from arriving in the country by boat," Human Rights Watch said in a statement accompanying the report.